From an official government research study of $6.58 billion dollars in SNAP expenditures, $1.9 million dollars were spent on king crab, $2.2 million dollars were spent on lobster and $28.4 million on select beef loins. Federal SNAP spending in 2024 was $99.8 billion. Scaled up, that means SNAP recipients spent $28.8 million dollars on king crab, $33.36 million dollars on lobster, and $430.75 million on steaks. DoW spent $2 million on Alaskan king crab, $6.9 million on lobster tail, $15.1 million on ribeye steak.
Ask any journalist pushing the "Hegseth is spending money on lobster" propaganda if they're willing to cut out those categories for SNAP recipients. They will not be.
View: https://x.com/DataRepublican/status/2032085201950842932
Irrelevant.
OTOH, U.S. military "surf and turf" (steak + lobster tails, sometimes with crab) is a real, longstanding morale-boosting tradition across branches; Army, Navy, Marines, and others, not a one-off or political invention.
It’s served occasionally in chow halls, dining facilities (DFACs), or on ships as a special treat, never as everyday fare (troops mostly eat standard rotations, MREs, or field rations). The combo became especially popular in the 1980s–1990s during extended overseas deployments (e.g., Middle East), building on earlier steak dinners that dated back to Civil War/WWII-era celebrations.
When it’s typically served
- Before deployments, extensions, or high-risk missions — the most famous trigger. Many veterans describe it as a “last good meal” or “calm before the storm.”
- Holidays and milestones: Thanksgiving, Christmas, unit anniversaries, graduations, or service birthdays (e.g., Marine Corps Birthday on Nov. 10, Navy or Army birthday events).
- General morale boosts: End of tough rotations, “Best Mess” competitions, or just to show appreciation during long deployments. Veterans recall it happening once a month, a couple times a year, or near the end of a tour—sometimes as far back as the 1980s or even basic training graduations in the 1980s.
Food is a big deal for troop welfare. Commanders and food-service teams use premium meals to combat the grind of deployment life—missing family events, living in austere conditions, and eating repetitive chow.
It’s funded through normal bulk-procurement budgets (frozen lobster tails and ribeyes are bought at scale like any other protein), representing a tiny fraction of the military’s massive feeding operation.
This tradition has existed under multiple administrations for decades and is widely defended by veterans as a small, earned perk that costs far less than headlines sometimes suggest. It’s unrelated to any single political figure.
The military has been doing the full steak + lobster version on its own timeline for morale for a very long time.
